Harry Potter is a revolutionary work created by J.K. Rowling in 1997. She was just a single mother waiting for the train to return home. Suddenly, the idea popped into her head to write a story of a magical world, and that story now is known as Harry Potter worldwide. Even Harry Potter easter eggs in the media have become a very popular tradition nowadays. In the beginning, she was rejected by many publishers, predicting by the title of the writing piece that it was just a mere child fantasy. But when Harry Potter was published it didn’t have to look back. It broke records after records and created new milestones that were almost unreachable. People love the series so much that they are always excited about when the next edition will be launched. This craze of Harry Potter has been going on for over 26 years and it is still spreading its aroma.
Easter eggs are the hidden clues that the creators use to give the fans a chance to discover them and have a little more fun watching the movies. Easter eggs can take various forms, including subtle visual clues, dialogues, or nods to other works. TV shows, games, and even literature are using easter eggs in their works. This is a popular trick to get the reader’s full attention on a particular work. It creates links between works and the audiences can relate to the new piece of work quickly. Easter eggs create a special bond between the fans and the series, which helps to grow the emotional attachment stronger.
What Makes a Great Easter Egg?
Memorable Easter eggs are those eggs that are meant to be more than relevant references. There are many key qualities of Easter eggs:
1. Subtly
A good quality Easter egg is always hidden wisely so the fans need to pay attention to find them out. These findings later feel rewarding and create a victorious mindset among the fans.
2. Relevance
The references should have to be related to the characters, or else it will feel forced, which will decrease the quality of the work. This network helps to strengthen the fans’ expertise in the work.
3. Cultural Context
Easter eggs that come from widely known cultural references shake up the fans’ old memories. It evokes nostalgia and brings back the memories they had with the old work, which makes them more emotionally attached to the new work.
4. Community Engagement
Easter eggs that help fan theories and discussions are one kind of help to build a community. When the fans discuss or share their thoughts it makes a great connection among them and the work itself.
Easter eggs create a familiar or fun atmosphere. The readers find it amusing and love to enjoy this type of work as they get work up their minds as well. They get a chance to create a bond with the work which is quite a meticulous step taken by the creators.
Harry Potter is a history-creating cultural phenomenon. People of all categories love the series. They also find other series interesting that have somehow mentioned Harry Potter. They can relate to the characters and feel as if they are somehow connecting with their favorite series. This gives them a new interest to explore. These Easter eggs assist fans to keep growing the magic of Harry Potter. Fans love to interact with Harry Potter as much as they can, as a result. Fans try to find Harry Potter-related movies or content that will keep giving them magical vibes. They search on the internet to know about the Harry Potter-related blog or anything that referred to Harry Potter. So, we can assume that these Easter eggs create a win-win situation for all the parties. Harry Potter gets to keep its magic going, fans get to keep in touch with their favorite series and newcomers who use Easter eggs related to Harry Potter can attract a huge amount of audiences towards themselves.
Easter Eggs Found in Harry Potter Movies:
In the Harry Potter movies, Warner Bros. has tried to drop many Easter eggs so the fans feel connected with the movies and pay more attention to them so they can find many more Easter eggs. Some easter eggs that have a crucial role in the movies are given below:
1. A Secret Quidditch Player in the Past:
Professor McGonagall was a Quidditch player herself. She was a Quidditch Champion during her time as a student. In Philosopher’s Stone, when Hermione takes Harry to his father’s Championship batch, we can see a glance at another batch on the side, which belongs to our favorite professor, Professor McGonagall.
2. Newt’s Name Showed on The Marauder’s Map:
In Prisoner of Azkaban, we see a glance at another magical character from Fantastic Beasts’s Newt Scamander. We can only assume that he came to visit Professor Dumbledore but what might be the reason? We might never know.
3. Ministry of Magic’s entering code:
In the movie Order of Phoenix, Harry is summoned to visit the Ministry of Magic. He went there with Arthur Weasley, the father of Ron Weasley, who put in some code to enter the Ministry of Magic. In the beginning, it seemed like some random numbers with bare eyes, but it wasn’t. It turns out that the code numbers spell ‘Magic.’
4. Foreshadowing Harry’s Future:
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Pr, there occurs a Quiddiga mea, where Hais is selected to be the captain of Gryffindor. Here filmmakers dropped another Easter egg by giving Harry Potter’s jersey no 7. This number can be a hint of the seventh Horcrux of Voldemort, which is Harry Potter himself.
Harry Potter Easter Eggs Appearances in Other Movies:
Here are the top 5 Easter eggs found in various movies:
1. Shrek 2 – The Potion Shop with Felix Felicis
In Shrek 2, when the scene of the fairy Godmother’s potion shop occurs, only a person with good eyesight may notice a small vial labeled as “Felix Felicis,” the magical luck potion from the Harry Potter series. This is an intellectual nod towards the Harry Potter series because, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the potion plays a vital role in the plot. Even though it is a subtle nod, it connects two magical worlds.
2. Fantastic Beasts – Harry Potter’s References
The Fantastic Beasts series is filled with so many Harry Potter Easter eggs that are directly connected with the series. The mention of the Grindelwald, the spells used in it are familiar, the magical creatures like Niffler, and lastly but most importantly, the appearance of Albas Dumbledor’s younger self binds both series together. One of the most important connections is showing the flashbacks of Dumbledor teaching at the school and his family history.
3. Toy Story 3 – Totoro’s Magical Appearance and Link to Magical Creatures
In Toy Story 3, we find My Neighbor Totoro’s character as one of Bonnie’s toys. At first glance, fans might not find anything related, but if we think deeper, Totoro has been associated with magical creatures in fantasy, which is similar to Hagrid’s love for magical creatures like Buckbeak or Aragog.
4. Avengers: Endgame – Hogwarts-Related Dialogue
In Avengers: Endgame, there was a small Harry Potter Easter egg during the last battle scene. Spiderman activates his “Instant Kill” mode when he is getting swarmed by the enemies. This line has been compared humorously as it sounds like a Spell from the wizarding world of Harry Potter. This nod subtly refers to Harry Potter which the fans recognized quickly. This creates a funny magical parallel in the MCU world.
Easter Eggs as a Bond Between Fans and the Series
Easter eggs are a second option for the fans to stay connected with the series. Fans can watch numerous times and find new Easter eggs and feel like a genius. This thing keeps the fans coming back to the series even after years. Discussion over the series keeps it moving from one person to another and keeps the talk about it. Harry Potter’s Easter eggs are so brilliant that fans get mesmerized sometimes by how much thought Warner Bros. has put into making the movies. It even gives the fans the delight of finding out something new about their magical series. It is rewarding that the fans keep finding new Easter eggs even after this long time since the Harry Potter release. Harry Potter gives the fans the chance to interact with it and find mysterious clues that reveal some new information about the wizarding world. Fans have great fun in rewatching the series as they feel like a detective who is finding clues to connect the dots and solve the mystery. The more times they rewatch the series, the more they find something new, some new Easter eggs, which give them the taste of victory. Spotting hidden references keeps the fan’s mind fresh, and they can give themselves praise as if they were the first person who found something to solve a mystery.
Other Movies that keep hiding Easter eggs related to Harry Potter are also doing great work in creativity. Their thoughts on keeping the magical world’s references inside their plots are complimentary. It gives the fans a chance to feel a nostalgic moment and also helps them to connect with the new series. These references are made to gain some publicity. Other movies use Harry Potter’s Easter eggs in their movies as it is a cultural phenomenon and controls a huge amount of audience movements. This might be an opportunity for them to have some lights on them as well and get the chance to become recognized in a movie. Though this is just a small part of the marketing policy of the media industry, we as fans all have to admit that using Harry Potter Easter eggs is one of the best decisions of the media. Warner Bros. has also done a great job at hiding Easter eggs in every Harry Potter movie that fans can’t get enough of.
